Applying PE practices to fantasy football

As the commissioner of our office NFL Survivor Pool*, a league with about 85 teams ready for season-opening action this weekend, I have often been asked, "Geez, isn't that a lot of work?"

I, of course, jest in response: "I charge management fees."

Being the private market nerds that we are, the joke recently turned into a rather lively 15-minute dialogue on actually applying private equity practices to managing this type of fantasy football league. Some highlights (if you'd call them that):

Naturally I'd start with a "2 and 20" fee structure.

To be fair to me and my commitment to manage the league for 17 weeks, it's only sensible that an accelerated monitoring fee be applied and collected up-front, even if the league ends early.

Claiming 20% of the winnings via carried interest also seems reasonable. The winner will get a 50x cash-on-cash multiple in just about three months of work—an astonishing IRR by anyone's standards. Hurdle rate need not apply due to the outsized returns.

One of my coworkers did yeoman's work in recruiting participants, so I suppose a placement agent-type of compensation could be worked out.

Call me a barbarian if you like, but how else can you generate that kind of a return so quickly and easily?

(* – if you're curious, an NFL Survivor Pool effectively has two rules: pick a team that has to win that week, and you can use each team only once per season)